Women are sharing #FatSideStories to show how people react to their weight

Overweight women around the world have been taking to Twitter to talk about the reactions they’ve experienced to their bodies – and the outcome is heartbreaking.

First inspired by a tweet from the account @yrfatfriend, which implored ‘fellow fats’ to open up about their experiences with dating, the thread has since become a conversation about how being fat has affected almost every area of their lives.

Many of the initial tweets were about relationships as suggested, with stories ranging from comments from husbands to negative responses on first dates. One woman explained that she’d been texting a man for two weeks, and when they met, his only words were ‘You didn’t say you were fat!’

Perhaps the most concerning stories were women who had avoided their doctors for fear of being criticised for their size, or experienced extreme weight bias when they had attended appointments, leading to other health concerns being missed.